Python replacing string

Question

I am trying to create a simple hangman game, with the goal output being like this: player chooses the letter m
Output: m______
You have found the letter m
Guesses Left: 7
Input guess
However, the output I am getting is this: You have found the letter m
"_________" (no quotations)
Guesses Left: 7
Input guess

I am wondering why _____ is not being replaced with m________

word = "mystery"
solved = 1
guesses = 7
solver = 0
o = "_______"
while solved == 1:
    print(o)
    print("Guesses Left:", guesses)
    print("Input guess")
    guess = str(input())
    x = word.find(guess)
    if x > -0.5:
        print("You have found the letter", guess)
        z = o[x:x]
        o.replace(_, guess)
        solver = solver + 1
        if solver == 7:
            print("YOU WON!!!!")
            solved = 2
    else:
        guesses = guesses - 1
        if guesses == 0:
            print("Out of lives...")
            solved == 0

Thanks!

R Nar · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-06 20:09:04Z

1

since strings are immutable in python, when you call o.replace(_,guess), replace will actually create another instance of a string that has the necessary replacements. You thus need to assign the return value back to o like this:

o=o.replace('_',guess)

ALSO:

o.replace will actually replace EVERY instance of the first string with the second, which is probably not your expected output. I would instead use this line:

o = o[0:x-1] + guess + [-x-1:-1]

SIDE NOTE:

this will only work if there is only one occurrence of the guess, there are a lot of things you can do to make this hangman game mroe verbose (multiple letter occurrences, inputs that are more than a letter, etc)

answered Oct 6, 2015 at 20:09

R Nar

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Comments

Radagast · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-06 20:15:01Z

0

Here is the problem

o.replace(_, guess)

returns the replaced value but o never changes.

right way to change the var:

o = o.replace("_", guess)

edited Oct 6, 2015 at 20:15

Radagast

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answered Oct 6, 2015 at 19:56

karakfa

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